1) Short yardage analysis – are we failing miserably or just small mistakes with big impacts? We left two or three scores on the field against WVU due to the inability to convert short yardage plays. How big of an issue do we have going forward? Is it personnel (with Silas out), scheme, or technique? – VT8207

Chris Coleman: When something isn’t working in football, the issue is very rarely just one thing.  I saw a number of different issues at West Virginia.  Heck, just the final four plays can be broken down individually, and you can potentially find a different answer for each play (as Brandon Patterson did in his breakdown earlier this week).  We saw a missed block on the left side of the line disrupt a throwback pass that probably would have been a touchdown.  On fourth down, two wide receivers ran to the same spot on the field, which botched the play from the beginning.  It’s hard for me to say if that was a good play call or not, because one of those wide receivers lost his head and ran the wrong route.

On the fourth and 1 call in the first half, I’ve got no problem with the play call itself per se, but I wouldn’t have run it behind Tyrell Smith, who is probably the weakest physically of Tech’s offensive linemen.   Running perhaps a different type of play behind Lecitus Smith (who pulled on the play and got a good block) would perhaps be the better option there, and maybe don’t do it with the quarterback whose shoulder is banged up.

I would also argue that Tech just isn’t being as physical as they were up front a year ago.  Some of that can be written off to the loss of Christian Darrisaw, but as we covered yesterday in Inside the Numbers, we’ve seen major regression from Brock Hoffman and Luke Tenuta as well.  If those two guys can get back on track, Tech should be able to do better in short yardage.

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